20-hydroxyecdysone mediates fat body arylphorin regulation during development of rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica

Abstract

Arylphorin hexamerins are one of the major insect storage proteins involved in diverse functions during metamorphosis. However, their regulation during development is not elucidated so far. In the present study, we documented 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E)-mediated regulation of arylphorin expression in the fat body of the stored grain pest, Corcyra cephalonica. Based on the differential developmental expression and 20E-induced transcriptional as well as translational level alterations of arylphorin, we isolated the 5' upstream region of the gene to analyze regulatory motifs. Promoter motif analysis revealed the presence of ecdysone response element (ERE). Transient transfection studies showed the functionality of the ERE. Enzyme mobility shift experiments with radiolabelled, cold and mutated probes indicate ERE-nuclear factor binding. This study is the first to report transcriptional regulation of arylphorins by 20E in lepdopteran insect species.

Keywords: 20-hydroxyecdysone; Arylphorin; Fat body; Gene regulation; Hexamerin.